Honeymoon Phase

I think I have got to be in the honeymoon phase of living in Korea right now. Everything is great, I am more than happy, I'm loving exploring, etc. etc. etc. I will be curious to see how long this phase lasts and if it's even just a phase or a new way of life. Traveling and being in other places and cultures is what makes me feel alive. I feel more myself in other places and cultures than I think I ever did in the US. I have always known this, but traveling always reaffirms this for me. I am normally a curious and positive person, but being here I just feel more alive.

Because I live in the city it isn't so different from an American city other than the language and looks of people. There is not so much Korean culture in the city. This is somewhat disappointing, but it also will help me to get out more and seek out that strong culture that I desire. The good thing about Seoul though is that the transition to living here was quite easy because it is like any other city I have been to. And of course there are plenty of things to do and see here that I would never see in another country.

Yesterday (Sunday) Andrew, one of the other English teachers took us out of the city for a hike. It was so easy to get there. We just took our subway line to the end stop, looked for the mountain and started walking towards it. What were city streets became narrow village streets as we started our climb up the mountain. All along the sides of the streets were street vendors and little village style restaurants with wonderful smelling food. We passed a stream at one point with a ledge hanging a few sponges and brushes for people to wash their dishes with. That in particular really reminded me of living in Papua New Guinea. 

The first part of the climb up the mountain was the hardest. It was pretty much straight up. There were plenty of stone stairs that aided us in the climb though. Once at the top we were able to see a lot of Seoul. It was a hazy day, but I can imagine that on a clear day the view would be incredible. From there we continued to hike a loop around the ridges of the nearby mountains. We followed an old wall and at one point came upon a temple. We explored that for a bit and then continued on. The day was perfect, it was about 60 degrees, sunny and cloudy, we could see the fresh greenness of spring and hot pink blossoms, the smell of pine was in the air as we walked on pine needles and in the distance we could hear the deep chiming of a gong. This to me was why I came to Asia. 

After our hike we met another English teacher for dinner. We went to a place somewhat like a Japanese steak house. They brought the meat to our table with tons of side dishes and then we cooked the meat on the center of the table. It was a tasty dinner to complete our wonderful day. :)